Bourne Says New ECW “Blows Out” The Original ECW

Evan Bourne was recently interviewed by The Sun in the UK. Here are the highlights:

The new ECW vs. The original ECW: “You can’t make a direct comparison between the rosters, as we’re so different. But if you compare ECW now to the old ECW on TNN – we blow that show out of the water. Every week we blow it out of the water. I have tons of respect for Rob Van Dam, Sabu, Super Crazy and Tajiri – as they were the guys I idolised growing up. I loved ECW. So that’s why I’m so proud to part of the current ECW, to make sure the name has the same feel and fans feel the same way I did at that age.”

On differences between now and then: “The main difference is that the original ECW’s events weren’t as large as ours. They were wrestling in front of 4,000-5,000, whereas WWE’s arena shows attract 10,000. That makes a huge difference as you have to adapt to your crowd and give them the best show. Also ECW had no rules, you could use any language you want. I loved the promo Tazz cut on Steve Corino, where he cursed for 10 minute straight, but we can’t do that. We’re a PG product and I’m proud to be a part of that. I love doing it for the kids, but I never want to forget about that 18-24 male demographic that needs ECW to be like EXTREME Championship Wrestling was back in the day. Me and Tyson Kid can easily be the Super Crazy/Tajiri or RVD/Jerry Lynn of the new ECW. ”

On the poor ratings: “You have to look at ratings as a long-term picture, but I did notice that the week I made my second debut was one of ECW’s highest rated shows. And I think we’re going to see a slow increase coming up. I measure more by live crowd reaction and how it looks on TV. I don’t make any money off ad sales, so ratings are nowhere near as important to me as having a good product.”